Have a friend who just got a new HP Win 7 laptop. I configured it for her, including installing PowerPoint Viewer 2010 (PPV), which she needs to open PowerPoint files. PPV works fine for any .pps files stored on the computer, but generates the dreaded "file not associated with any program" error message if you try to open a .pps Windows Live Mail attachment.

I had this same problem with her last (Vista) computer and Windows Mail and eventually got it to work, but for the life of me, cannot remember how. I recall trying the edit-the-registry solution in the Winhelponline blog at http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/un...s-mail-or-wlm/, and also remember that it did nothing.

Win 7 no longer has the editable association subroutine that was available in XP, so I can't find any way to see the details of the PPV association. I tried clicking on "Change Program" in the Default programs, and even though PPV was already the default program, browsed to the .exe file and select it. Made no difference; it still opens any .pps file ON the computer, but will not open them when an attachment to an e-mail.

How can I get Win 7 to recognize the association between .pps e-mail attachments and PPV?

Have you tried the right click>Open With>Choose Program>check "Always use"?

Did not and am not sure it will offer the "Open with" for an e-mail attachment. I will have her forward it to me and will try that on my Win 7 laptop that has WLM on it.

Unfortunately (or should I say "fortunately"?), I can't duplicate the problem on my laptop because it also has Office 2010 Professional, which includes PP, so it never has a problem opening .pps attachments.

Did not and am not sure it will offer the "Open with" for an e-mail attachment. I will have her forward it to me and will try that on my Win 7 laptop that has WLM on it.

It won't have that menu for an attachment.
It will need to be saved to disc, then set the association using the Open With>Choose Program>select the program>Always use.

That sets the default in a different part of the Registry than the Choose default or Folder Options>File types method.
It's kind of a sneaky back-door way to set the default that sometimes works when the normal method doesn't get recognized.

It won't have that menu for an attachment.
It will need to be saved to disc, then set the association using the Open With>Choose Program>select the program>Always use.

That sets the default in a different part of the Registry than the Choose default or Folder Options>File types method.
It's kind of a sneaky back-door way to set the default that sometimes works when the normal method doesn't get recognized.

OK, will try it and let you know if it works. May not get over there for a week.

Had an opportunity to get over to her place today and try it. Did nothing. Didn't think it would. Also tried (again) modifying the registry, changing "Show" to "Open" in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section, but that did the same -- nothing.

It boggles my mind the M$ makes both PowerPoint Viewer and Windows Live Mail, but apparently has no clue how to make them cooperate with each other.

On my system, the .pps key points to the PowerPoint.SlideShow.8 key, where you should have the shell\Open and Command subkeys.
I have the full PowerPoint installed, so with just the viewer, the shell\Open may just be under the pps key (I'll see if I can find somebody with only the viewer to check).

In either case, the data should look something like this, with the path pointing of course to the viewer rather than PowerPoint,exe.

It occurs to me that if you can find a Win 7 machine with just the viewer and it works properly for opening the attachments, you could just export the keys and use them to set the right data on her machine.

On my system, the .pps key points to the PowerPoint.SlideShow.8 key, where you should have the shell\Open and Command subkeys.
I have the full PowerPoint installed, so with just the viewer, the shell\Open may just be under the pps key (I'll see if I can find somebody with only the viewer to check).

In either case, the data should look something like this, with the path pointing of course to the viewer rather than PowerPoint,exe.

It occurs to me that if you can find a Win 7 machine with just the viewer and it works properly for opening the attachments, you could just export the keys and use them to set the right data on her machine.

I recall seeing the "Open" and "S&how" (which I thought should be "&Show", but left it alone). Didn't look at the command. Don't have access to another Win 7 computer that has PowerPoint Viewer.

If I remember correctly a recent windows update blocked office files like PPS from being opened from WLM or other email clients
Does he get the problem when he saves the file to the HD
It is far too dangerous to attempt to open any office file from an email message without saving it first & giving the AV a chance to scan it

Thanks to everyone for your comments and help. About an hour ago, I solved the problem. In my research yesterday, I came across a thread somewhere that mentioned something about PPV 2010 having built-in 'protection' that prevented it from opening WLM attachments (why M$ would build something like that into PPV, I haven't the foggiest). The same thread said that the last PPV that did NOT have that 'protection' was 2003. So I uninstalled PPV 2010, downloaded and installed PPV 2003. Problem solved; all .pps attachments in WLM now open when you double-click the attachment in WLM.

THIS THREAD HAS EXPIRED.
Are you having the same problem?
We have volunteers ready to answer your question, but first you'll have to join for free. Need help getting started? Check out our Welcome Guide.